Dry Crab Curry with Fresh Blue Crab

I am back with a delicious and enticing post for you all... Last week I just couldnt find any time for myself, to draft a post and share with you. I didnt make anything new at all last week and so I am posting about the Crab curry - JZ style that I made sometime back.

We have an oriental foods market in MN which is about half an hour or more drive from my home. The market is famous for its wide variety of fresh seafood and vegetables, many of which are also available in Kerala. So the Keralites in MN love to visit this particular shop and try their hands at all the veggies and seafood just like the ones available back at home. Since its really far from my home, we dont go there often, but we do when we can. Once when we went there, they had some fresh blue crab. When I say fresh, I mean frrrrrrrresh!! They were alive, moving around in the basket they were in. I saw a few people try hard with tongs to pick them up and put them in brown paper bags all the while thinking about the delicious stuff they are going to come up with!! But the crabs were fighting tooth and nail, with their claws, viciously attacking the tongs coming at them. I felt envious of the people buying them, I had never made anything with crab before! I didnt even know how to clean or cook the crab.

Anyways, I felt adventurous that day and I asked JM to buy me two of them. JM generously passed me the "honor" of getting the crabs into the bags. After a lot of wrestling around, I got two of them into the bag. All the while we were driving back home, I imagined them escaping the bag and crawling around in the trunk, ready to pinch me with their claws!! ;-)

But to my relief, they were still in the paper bag. After researching on the internet, I boiled them whole for a few minutes and then cleaned them. I cut them in half and proceeded to make a curry that I just thought up then and there. I made the crab curry in a traditional fish pot, the one made with clay, used for making fish curries. I should say that it was really delicious!! Believe me, it really was! It was amazing, with the flavors reminiscent of Kerala Fish Curry. I got good reviews from JM - a true seafood buff, so I am sure that it really was good. I loved it too, apart from the fact that I dont believe in working hard to get a small morsel of delicacies such as shrimp and crab!! ;-) Hopefully you would love this recipe. Try this out and share your results with me.

Recipe (Serves 2):

Blue crab - 2 nos (1 lb)
Green chilli (Serranos) - 1, sliced lengthwise
Onion - 1/2, chopped
Ginger - 1" piece, sliced thin
Red chilli powder - 1/2 tsp
Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp
Kudampuli (Camboge) - 1, cut into pieces

Method:

Clean and cook the crab for a few minutes with the shell on.

Cut the crab in half.

Saute the ginger, chillies and onion in oil in a saute pan or fish curry pot.

Add the red chilli powder and turmeric powder, saute well.

Toss in the crab halves.

Pour some water in, just enough to cover the crab partially.

Season with salt.

Close the pan with a lid and cook until the water is evaporated and the masala coats the crab.

Serve hot with rice.

Enjoy!!

Tips:

1. I still am not an expert in cleaning the crab, so check out the experiences from others on how to clean it.

Hope you enjoyed reading my post. Wishing you all a great day and an awesome week ahead!!

Garden Tuna Melt from Kraft foods

Good morning everyone! Hope you all are doing fine. Last week was really hectic with last minute stuff to be taken care before my work and with lil LM starting school and all. She's going to her new school from tomorrow onwards. Hopefully everything will go alright, keeping my fingers crossed!!

I am kind of bummed that I was not able to post regularly the last couple of weeks. I am all the more bummed that my regular readers seem to have given up on me!! I am so sorry for the infrequent posts, I hope to get it back on track now!! Hope you all will continue to visit me and drop me your cheers, I really do miss it!

This recipe is from kraftfoods.com an excellent source for quick meals and creative desserts. Check out the actual recipe here. I tweaked the recipe a little and made it in my own way according to our tastes. Please make sure that you read the tips for a crisp sandwich. All of us love tuna sandwiches and this recipe was delightful as well, with the added crunch of crisp green bell peppers. It was delicious, trust me!! This recipe is a keeper for us and I hope it will be for you too!! Its THE BEST recipe for a quick and healthy munch any time of the day!

Recipe (Makes 3-4 servings) :

Canned tuna in water - 1, drained and flaked
Mayonnaise - 7 tbsp, divided
Chopped green pepper - 1/4 cup
Dried oregano - 1/2 tsp
Bread - 8 slices
Cheese singles - 4

Method:

Mix tuna, mayo, green peppers and seasonings together.

Divide the mixture between four slices of bread.

Place a slice of cheese over the tuna mixture on each sandwich.

Top with the other four slices of bread.

Spread 1 tbsp of mayo on either side of each sandwich.

Cook in a skillet until crisp and brown on both sides. **




Tips:

1. I omitted the onions and dried basil from the actual recipe.
2. I tried browning the sandwich in a skillet and my sandwich turned out to be a bit soggy.
3. For the second sandwich I used two slices of bread toasted in a regular toaster and then omitted the mayo spread on the surface. The result was an amazing healthier, crisp and appealing tuna melt sandwich.
4. I used wheat bread for the sandwich.

Hope you all will come visit me again. Have a great day and a relaxing weekend!!

Crab Cakes with Lump Crab Meat

Crab cakes have always had a reputation of being a gourmet delicacy. I've never had these before, but have always wanted to make them because its said to be really delicious. I didnt taken on a particular recipe, but was inspired by quite a few and made a recipe on my own. The first time I made them, I used regular crab meat which was finely minced and so for seafood enthusiasts, there is no crab meat to bite into. Lump crab meat is a bit more expensive, but has big lumps which gives the flavor of the crab meat much better.

I am not a big seafood buff, but even I enjoyed these tender cakes. JM loved them, but wanted a little less sourness imparted by the lemon juice and mustard in it. The amounts mentioned are approximate, so please feel free to adapt the recipe to your tastes. I served the cakes with tartar sauce (dont know if mine would qualify as a traditional tartar sauce). Let me know how they turned out for you! Keep warm, and have a great day!!

Recipe (Makes 4-6 cakes):

Lump crab meat - 6 oz (1 can)
Dill chips - 5, chopped fine
Yellow mustard - 1/2 tsp
Pepper powder - 1/4 tsp
Lime juice - 1/2 tsp
Bread crumbs - 3 tbsp
Mayonnaise - 1 1/2 tbsp
Pickled jalapenos - 2, chopped fine

Method:

Transfer the crab meat into a bowl, feel through the meat and discard any shells.

Add all the other ingredients to the crab meat and mix together until everything comes together into a ball.

Shape into cutlets/cakes.

Heat a skillet.

Drizzle a bit of oil on the skillet.

Place the cakes gently on the skillet over medium flame.

Gently flip the crab cakes over when the first side is browned.

Brown the second side and flip the cakes over until the cakes are easier to handle.

Drizzle more oil as and if needed.

Serve hot with tartar sauce.

Tips:

1. The crab cakes are very delicate and be careful while flipping them over as they might break.
2. Keep the skillet over low-medium flame so that the crab cakes loose mositure and become easier to handle.
3. I made the tartar sauce with some mayonnaise, pepper powder, salt and chopped dill pickles and jalapeno pickles.
   

Santa's Holiday Challenge is still going on strong. Dont forget to send in your qualifying entries to jz.tastytreats@gmail.com on or before Dec 31, 2008.

Cold tuna sandwich

We have had our share of visits to the sub-shop Subway, be it to grab a quick bite or to take home a big sandwich for dinner. The only way we would mostly eat raw vegetables is on a sandwich. When I try to eat salads, I use more dressing to offset the taste and I think I end up with more calories to burn than I would otherwise! I am not a big seafood buff, so I would always stick to the chicken/meat sandwiches. But JM would always order the cold tuna sandwich with his favourite vegetables (which is not many). So I had taken to recreating the sandwich at home with available supplies and has been pretty happy with it. Even I like the tuna sandwich since it doesnt taste very 'fishy'. This time I made it a little more elaborate since I would be sending this to the Sandwich festival 2008 at Anupama's Food-n-More. The sandwich festival would accept both veg and non-veg sandwich entries, so I had no trouble choosing the sandwich. You can always change the fillings to your taste and healthy eaters can skip the cheese and other dressings. I had a package of coleslaw vegetables (shredded cabbage and carrots) which I used as the basic vegetable filler, along with pickled banana peppers, olives, green bell peppers and american cheese on toasted french bread.

Recipe (Makes a footlong sandwich) :

French bread - 1 footlong

White chunky tuna in water - 1 can (6 oz)

Coleslaw mix - 1/2 cup

Mayonnaise/ Ranch - 1 1/2 tbsp

Olives - 8-10 nos, sliced

Celery - 1 small stalk, chopped

Green peppers - 1/4, sliced thin

American cheese slices - 2 cut, diagonally

Pickled banana peppers - as needed

Salt and pepper - as desired

Egg wash - with 1 egg (optional)

Method:

Transfer the tuna from the can to a bowl, draining the water.

Add the mayonnaise (I used ranch), salt and pepper to the tuna.

Beat the tuna with a fork until shredded and blended well with the dressing, salt and pepper.

Mix in the chopped celery.

Keep in the refrigerator until ready to use.

Preheat the oven to 425F.

Slit the bread horizontally so that it can be opened like a book.

Prepare the egg wash by beating an egg with a little water.

Apply the egg wash on the top and sides of the bread.

Place the bread in the preheated oven for 5 minutes or until golden brown and crisp.

Spread the tuna mixture over the lower flap of the sandwich. (Watch out for steam because the sandwich will be hot inside).

Top with the coleslaw veggies.

Toss the olives and the green peppers on top.

Top with cheese slices.

Serve immediately.

Tips:

1. Onions, tomatoes, spinach, jalapenos, pickles and lettuce are just a few of the other topping options.
2. Egg wash can be omitted. I used it because it gives a golden brown sheen to the bread when baked/toasted.